Give the Beach Room to Move: More Sand, More Protection

The South Sand Placement Project

It’s September, and coastal Volusia County is entering the heart of hurricane season, along with the season’s king tides, when some of the highest tides of the year push farther onto the beach. Locals and visitors spent the summer enjoying a noticeably wider stretch of beach in south New Smyrna Beach (NSB), but the extra sand isn’t there to make room for more beach chairs. Earlier this year, Volusia County completed its South Sand Placement Project to rebuild shoreline damaged by hurricanes, storms, nor’easters and notably Hurricanes Ian and Nicole (2022) and subsequent erosion.

Volusia.org reports the project was funded entirely through a Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant supporting recovery and resilience efforts following Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. The work was conducted in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND).

The effort brought together local, state and private partners as part of a broader initiative to strengthen Volusia County’s coastline and improve its long-term resiliency. The work involved contractors, engineers and environmental specialists, along with the City of New Smyrna Beach.

Beginning last year and continuing through May 2026, residents and visitors watched large construction equipment, pipeline materials and temporary beach-access closures move through the south project area, from Sapphire Road south to 5205 S. Atlantic Avenue.

What 550,000 Cubic Yards of Sand Can Do

According to Volusia.org, approximately 550,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand from Rattlesnake Island were mixed with water and pumped through a pipeline along the Intracoastal Waterway, across the barrier island and south along the beach. The sand was then deposited and shaped in areas behind properties whose owners had provided the county with sand-placement easements.

The south project strengthened more than four miles of shoreline. The need for that new sand becomes clearer when looking at how much the beach had changed. A countywide beach survey by Taylor Engineering Inc. found that from 2019 to August 2025, the shoreline in the area targeted for sand placement had moved inland an average of 22 feet. Across the broader south project area in NSB, the average shoreline had moved inland 17 feet.

That wider beach is not expected to stay exactly as it looks today. Beaches naturally change as waves, tides, wind and storms move sand along the shoreline and offshore. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explains that during a storm, some of that sand can move offshore, where it helps waves break farther from shore and lose some of their energy before reaching the beach.

In other words, seeing sand move or a beach change shape after a storm does not necessarily mean the project failed. The beach and dune system is designed to absorb some of that energy, helping reduce the force that reaches the dunes, properties and infrastructure behind it. Dune vegetation planted after the sand placement will also help stabilize the newly constructed berm and support the shoreline over time.

What Comes Next for the Restored Shoreline

The newly rebuilt shoreline will enter its first hurricane season, when storms will provide an early opportunity to see how the added sand responds to storm conditions. Questions remain about how the county will measure the project’s effectiveness after a major storm, how much erosion the shoreline is designed to withstand and when additional sand placement may be needed. County officials plan to provide additional information on the project and its long-term monitoring in mid-September.